Bøger af Bernard Helffer

Bernard Helffer's graduate-level introduction to the basic tools in spectral analysis is illustrated by numerous examples from the Schrodinger operator theory and various branches of physics: statistical mechanics, superconductivity, fluid mechanics and kinetic theory. The later chapters also introduce non self-adjoint operator theory with an emphasis on the role of the pseudospectra. The author's focus on applications, along with exercises and examples, enables readers to connect theory with practice so that they develop a good understanding of how the abstract spectral theory can be applied. The final chapter provides various problems that have been the subject of active research in recent years and will challenge the reader's understanding of the material covered.

Lectures given at the C.I.M.E. Summer School held in Cetraro, Italy, June 19-24, 2006

There has recently been a renewal of interest in Fokker-Planck operators, motivated by problems in statistical physics, in kinetic equations, and differential geometry. Compared to more standard problems in the spectral theory of partial differential operators, those operators are not self-adjoint and only hypoelliptic. The aim of the analysis is to give, as generally as possible, an accurate qualitative and quantitative description of the exponential return to the thermodynamical equilibrium. While exploring and improving recent results in this direction, this volume proposes a review of known techniques on: the hypoellipticity of polynomial of vector fields and its global counterpart, the global Weyl-Hörmander pseudo-differential calculus, the spectral theory of non-self-adjoint operators, the semi-classical analysis of Schrödinger-type operators, the Witten complexes, and the Morse inequalities.